DCL carry-on alcohol policy changing Sept. 30 2015

[perditax]

Regardless of the 'blah blah alcoholism/bad parenting' straw-man arguments from people who are just enjoying the schadenfreude of seeing something taken away from other people, Disney will NEVER remove alcohol from the cruises or parks. Way too big a profit margin there. If you believe this has anything to do with anything but cold hard cash ... well, I can't even really say anything, because it's probably more fun to go through life with that level of naiveté. Some days I wish I could.

 

[cgolf]

This is what my wife wrote in reply to the form letter response and hasn't heard back within 24 hours, it was a doozy!

Regarding your quote: "not unusual in the cruise industry" - is this going to be your new standard? Because if your new standard is going to be usual to the cruise industry then your prices need to drop by about $1000 for most cruises and more for others and also your benefits for sailing multiple times need to increase greatly since the "industry standard (in your words)" would be more in line. I am greatly disappointed in your new policies and hoping that your prices start reflecting this change since you are no making yourself no better than what the industry offers...

I am looking forward to a quick response.

She did good!

 

[DMMarla07860]

Ironically, they add more liquor every year...I've been every year last 10 years.

Do they really? we haven't gone every year, we go like every few years

 

[jlynch924]

I'm a newbie and am going on my first Disney cruise in Feb. When you bring the wine on board, can you bring a wine opener and drink it in your room or can you only drink it at the restaurants and pay the corking fee??

You can ask your room host/hostess for a corkscrew. They'll bring one so you can drink your wine in your room

 

[godde8ss]

Do they really? we haven't gone every year, we go like every few years

Yup, almost every country has a signature cocktail now in addition to the wine and beer. Shots are showing up in more places as well. It's my favorite event if the year, but I have to save up!

 

[Ofinn]

This is what my wife wrote in reply to the form letter response and hasn't heard back within 24 hours, it was a doozy!

Regarding your quote: "not unusual in the cruise industry" - is this going to be your new standard? Because if your new standard is going to be usual to the cruise industry then your prices need to drop by about $1000 for most cruises and more for others and also your benefits for sailing multiple times need to increase greatly since the "industry standard (in your words)" would be more in line. I am greatly disappointed in your new policies and hoping that your prices start reflecting this change since you are no making yourself no better than what the industry offers...

I am looking forward to a quick response.

She did good!

It's more like 2k or more or sometimes double. Compare DCL in Alaska and Europe to other lines the price differences are crazy.

 

[TeenaS]

There has been no mention of any change to the policy regarding carry-on of non-alcoholic beverages. Assumption is that has not changed -- you are welcome to bring as much water/soda/juice as you choose, provided it is carried on and not put in your checked luggage.

Enjoy your cruise!

Thank you so much!

 

[littleblackegg]

OK. Must pick up husband from work soon. I am very interested in this. How long do you think it will be before they introduce the adult beverage packages, and do you think sodas and juice will need to be purchased as part of the beverage package? My guess is January 2016, with a non-alcohol soda/water/juice package as well as an adult beverage package. This is a total guess based on industry standards.

 

[littleblackegg]

Yup, almost every country has a signature cocktail now in addition to the wine and beer. Shots are showing up in more places as well. It's my favorite event if the year, but I have to save up!

It's my favorite too.

 

[AquaDame]

This is what my wife wrote in reply to the form letter response and hasn't heard back within 24 hours, it was a doozy!

Regarding your quote: "not unusual in the cruise industry" - is this going to be your new standard? Because if your new standard is going to be usual to the cruise industry then your prices need to drop by about $1000 for most cruises and more for others and also your benefits for sailing multiple times need to increase greatly since the "industry standard (in your words)" would be more in line. I am greatly disappointed in your new policies and hoping that your prices start reflecting this change since you are no making yourself no better than what the industry offers...

I am looking forward to a quick response.

She did good!

Haha, love some of your responses! I personally stick with really carefully constructed concise letters because I have this irrational (maybe) fear that snark is going to get it tossed into the 'don't care' pile. That said I hope you share their response...!

We've figured out a plan B for our January cruise, and I'm trying to decide if I will act on it or not. I kind of want to see if they do make a change or at least tell me how they will be handling the liquor we WILL be buying in our ports. If we stay on this cruise I can tell you that I will be spending less on alcohol on board even though I won't have my beloved rum...well actually because I won't have my beloved rum. I'm usually too frugal to really want that cocktail but generally after having a drink in my stateroom I was a little more open with my wallet you see. Then there was the time that I was almost brave enough to plunk down money for DVC... maybe if we had carried rum onboard that trip Id have been a four year member by now.

 

[AFamily]

OK. Must pick up husband from work soon. I am very interested in this. How long do you think it will be before they introduce the adult beverage packages, and do you think sodas and juice will need to be purchased as part of the beverage package? My guess is January 2016, with a non-alcohol soda/water/juice package as well as an adult beverage package. This is a total guess based on industry standards.

If they do see how well alcohol sells do from the new policies and choose to start charging for sodas, then I personally think they would remove the old drink station, put in a coke freestyle machine and use the new drink choices as part of their reasoning for charging for sodas.

 

[Goofy4Ever]

I have been reading along since this thread started but have yet to chime in.

The policy would have had a huge impact on my FE gifts for my June cruise in which we gifted each Dad a 12oz craft beer from my hometown. This would have given me no allowance to carry any on for my husband until Cozumel 2 days later. I agree with everyone that this boils down to profits for DCL. The only time I have even been in the adult district of the ship was for our private group Mixology in which I left very tipsy for only $20. I expect to see the costs for Mixology and tastings to rise very soon now that everyone knows how much of a deal these type classes are.

One very large change DCL made recently that I have not yet seen listed is the new PIF date being pushed farther from sailing date for all cruises. Just since my first cruise in 2012 DCL has changed the carry on policy, the PIF dates, the onboard booking policy (twice), the pricing of nursery, the price of Palo (I believe twice), the price of Remy, the hours of the hot tubs and signatures at Guest Services, most of which have happened in the last 12 months, all while increasing prices across the board.

I have never considered cruising with a different line but I am seriously debating if I will keep my placeholder for Summer 2017 that I booked in June. For the first time I actually pulled up other cruise lines and searched their itineraries yesterday.

And don't forget the change they made to not being able to smoke on your veranda. While I am not a smoker, I still didn't like this change.

At one point or another each of these changes have impacted our family. But still the one that bites the most how much the prices have gone up over the years. I need to take out a second mortgage to cruise DCL.

 

[apocalyps3]

I just had someone from Disney call, but I couldn't answer since I'm on a teleconference for work. They left a pretty generic message similar to what godde8ss described in a previous response. He left a phone number, so I may call back later today.

 

[tinkerone]

Haha, love some of your responses! I personally stick with really carefully constructed concise letters because I have this irrational (maybe) fear that snark is going to get it tossed into the 'don't care' pile. That said I hope you share their response...!

We've figured out a plan B for our January cruise, and I'm trying to decide if I will act on it or not. I kind of want to see if they do make a change or at least tell me how they will be handling the liquor we WILL be buying in our ports. If we stay on this cruise I can tell you that I will be spending less on alcohol on board even though I won't have my beloved rum...well actually because I won't have my beloved rum. I'm usually too frugal to really want that cocktail but generally after having a drink in my stateroom I was a little more open with my wallet you see. Then there was the time that I was almost brave enough to plunk down money for DVC... maybe if we had carried rum onboard that trip Id have been a four year member by now.

lol, i usually do to. i don't get to excited but i write out my facts as i know it. recently i sent an email off to customer service at rccl about an issue we were seeing. we are sailing on our first rccl cruise in 2016 (bye disney) and i wanted them to know that being our first, we were not happy with the mess they had made on their drink packages. it laid out everything from people i had spoken with to dates of the correspondence. it stated my feelings and how i felt they had dropped the ball and i just wanted them to know. i said i was probably gong to cancel my drink package as i no longer felt it was a good deal for us. i would just purchase a drink with dinner, dh does not drink at all.

the response i received said 'if' we made a mistake, sorry. also sorry you are cancelling your cruise. went on with the most ridiculous reply i have ever received in an email. she obviously had not read what i had written.

yes, i had to respond. i was pissed, wait….i was PISSED at that point. i said if you can't bother to take the time to read what i have written then don't bother to take the time to reply. theres no 'if' you made a mistake, you did make a mistake and even the lowest customer service rep would know that by now. own it. And no where did i say i was going to cancel my cruise, reread and get your information right. yeah, i kind of ranted on but like i said, i was pissed.

low and behold, a few days later i received another reply from a different person. sorry sorry sorry, $200 obc, sorry sorry sorry. she responded to all my points by paraphrasing so i would know she did indeed read my email. she hit on every point i made and did say yes, they had made an error and sorry sorry sorry. i didn't expect an obc, but bonus!

i just wanted to let you know that not all ranting emails go unnoticed. i would never have started with one but i obviously received the first reply before i had taken my blood pressure meds. lol.

 

[Goofy4Ever]

That said, there are always those who can afford it. On our last cruise there was a "How well do you know your parents" game for kids. The first question was "What does your parent do for a living?" The parents on stage were an attorney, a surgeon, an executive, and a stay at home mom.

My wife and I were talking about the same game on our last cruise except the question they asked was "what is your parents favorite hobby?" One of the kids answered "flying us around to different places on the weekend in his plane". We both just looked at each other completely stunned.

I was talking to my husband about this and we both feel like this is who DCL is trying to cater too. Not the lower-mid class families who have to save a year or two before taking another cruise. I wish I was able to go whenever I wanted and stay in the Walt Suite, but that is just not possible.....

 

[MorganL]

Silly question, perhaps, and being new to cruising and the DCL my side is more "can't miss what you never had"... but... has anyone ever actually seen Disney rescind a policy change?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Silly question, perhaps, and being new to cruising and the DCL my side is more "can't miss what you never had"... but... has anyone ever actually seen Disney rescind a policy change?

Well, the last time they tried limiting alcohol comes to mind (2011). That lasted about 2 days before DCL pulled the wordage from the website and started telling people that the policy had not changed.

 

[TestingH2O]

January, although my information could have been incorrect. Has it been $9 since January?

Went on our first DCL cruise August 2015, booked July 2014. It's been $9/hour since we booked back then, and there was no conversation lingering on the boards at that point about nursery rates going up. In fact, this conversation is the first time I've heard they were ever $6/hour, so that had to have been a LONG time ago.

 

[wcw57]

uh oh. somebody got OBC for complaining. DCL can expect A LOT more complaints in an effort to rack up those OBC's!

I AM glad they made ammends...now people will complain if their complaint wasn't taken as seriously as THAT complaint.

slippery, slippery slope.

 

[cgolf]

lol, i usually do to. i don't get to excited but i write out my facts as i know it. recently i sent an email off to customer service at rccl about an issue we were seeing. we are sailing on our first rccl cruise in 2016 (bye disney) and i wanted them to know that being our first, we were not happy with the mess they had made on their drink packages. it laid out everything from people i had spoken with to dates of the correspondence. it stated my feelings and how i felt they had dropped the ball and i just wanted them to know. i said i was probably gong to cancel my drink package as i no longer felt it was a good deal for us. i would just purchase a drink with dinner, dh does not drink at all.

the response i received said 'if' we made a mistake, sorry. also sorry you are cancelling your cruise. went on with the most ridiculous reply i have ever received in an email. she obviously had not read what i had written.

yes, i had to respond. i was pissed, wait….i was PISSED at that point. i said if you can't bother to take the time to read what i have written then don't bother to take the time to reply. theres no 'if' you made a mistake, you did make a mistake and even the lowest customer service rep would know that by now. own it. And no where did i say i was going to cancel my cruise, reread and get your information right. yeah, i kind of ranted on but like i said, i was pissed.

low and behold, a few days later i received another reply from a different person. sorry sorry sorry, $200 obc, sorry sorry sorry. she responded to all my points by paraphrasing so i would know she did indeed read my email. she hit on every point i made and did say yes, they had made an error and sorry sorry sorry. i didn't expect an obc, but bonus!

i just wanted to let you know that not all ranting emails go unnoticed. i would never have started with one but i obviously received the first reply before i had taken my blood pressure meds. lol.

Our first email was very nice, she just jumped on the form letter non response that we got. Mostly because we have never gotten dissed by them like that before when they have responded to our emails.